The amount of violent crime committed in urban areas against defenseless victims is very high. Many individuals have resorted to carrying pistols for self protection. But carrying a concealed weapon such as a pistol requires a gun permit which is difficult to obtain. Consequently, various other devices have been invented for self protection that are relatively easy to obtain. These include devices for producing an electric shock (called "stun guns"), or devices for projecting a chemical substance into the eyes of an assailant such as "Mace". Other devices are designed to sound an alarm such as blowing a horn or whistle.
Unfortunately, carrying a lethal weapon such as a pistol can result in death if the victim is overpowered by the assailant. The use of a stun gun to shock an assailant requires physical contact with the assailant. But this close proximity operation makes the victim vulnerable to being overpowered. Projecting Mace into the eyes of an assailant is not very effective unless the victim is relatively close to the assailant, and hence vulnerable to being overpowered. Sounding an alarm is useless against a determined assailant.
In my previous invention (U.S. Pat. No. 5,072,342 entitled "light gun", filed Feb. 16, 1990) a hand-held, battery-operated device is provided that is designed to render an assailant instantly immobile from a safe distance by temporarily blinding the assailant with an intense flash of light, day or night. It will immobilize the assailant long enough to enable the victim to escape to safety. However, the brightness of a light flash required to temporarily blind an assailant at night is significantly less than the brightness required during daylight hours. The present invention represents an important improvement over my original light gun invention in that it provides a means for automatically or manually varying the brightness of each light flash.